contribution to the study of the genus scutellinia ... · 163 czech mycol. 63(2): 163–175, 2011...

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CZECH MYCOL. 63(2): 163–175, 2011

Contribution to the study of the genus

Scutellinia (Pezizales) II:

Type study of Scutellinia uliginosa and S. phymatodea

BEÑAT JEANNEROT

Lycée Agricole Technologique Privé, Route de Lys, 64800 Nay, France;[email protected]

Jeannerot B. (2011): Contribution to the study of the genus Scutellinia

(Pezizales) II: Type study of Scutellinia uliginosa and S. phymatodea. – CzechMycol. 63(2): 163–175.

The author revises and illustrates the types of Scutellinia uliginosa L.R. Batra and S. phymatodea

S.C. Kaushal & R. Kaushal, two rare species, based on Indian material. The two names are concluded tobe synonyms and S. uliginosa is the correct name of the species. New criteria for identification of thisspecies are proposed, and the history and taxonomic status are discussed.

Key words: Ascomycota, taxonomy, nomenclature, Pyronemataceae, Scutellinia sect. Minutae.

Jeannerot B. (2011): Příspěvek ke studiu rodu Scutellinia (Pezizales) II: revizetypů Scutellinia uliginosa and S. phymatodea. – Czech Mycol. 63(2): 163–175.

Autor reviduje typy vzácných druhů Scutellinia uliginosa L.R. Batra and S. phymatodea

S.C. Kaushal & R. Kaushal. Tato jména se ukázala být synonymní a S. uliginosa je správným jménemdruhu. Jsou navrženy nové znaky pro jeho určování a je diskutována jeho historie a taxonomie.

INTRODUCTION

In the ongoing studies of Scutellinia (Cooke) Lambotte on a worldwide scalethe types and other material of the putative species S. phymatodea S.C. Kaushal &R. Kaushal and S. uliginosa L.R. Batra have been studied. Several overlookedcharacters came to light and it is concluded that these names represent one spe-cies, S. uliginosa. This species should be considered a member of sect. Minutae

with S. minutella Svrček & J. Moravec as the most similar taxon.This contribution honours Jiří Moravec for his important works on disco-

mycetes and proposing S. phymatodea to be a new species.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Handcut sections of exsiccata were rehydrated in distilled water and placed ina Cotton Blue solution with lactophenol that subsequently was heated to the boil-ing point. Then the samples were rinsed, cut into several parts and mounted inchloral hydrate. Drawings were made freehand. The spore sizes were measured inCotton Blue. This measure framework was adopted after several comparativetests on the same collection in water and in Cotton Blue. The results were so simi-lar that it was considered unnecessary to measure in water. Photographs werehandled with Mesurim Pro software. Measurements are given without includingthe ornamentation on the basis of 25 spores per collection, preferably using freespores in the mounts or alternatively using spores in mature asci.

A b b r e v i a t i o n s u s e d. TV – top view, SWV – spore wall view, bw – basewidth, h – height, Q – ratio length/width, X – average, n – number of spores mea-sured (accumulated collections).

RESULTS

Scutellinia uliginosa Batra, in L.R. Batra, Mycologia, 52(3): 526 (1960).Ty p e l o c a l i t y. I n d i a, Uttar Pradesh, Rajpore, near Mussoorie, 1200 m alt., on swampy ground,

20 Oct. 1952, L.R. Batra LRB 145. Holotypus CUP – IN 32, revised.= Scutellinia phymatodea S.C. Kaushal & R. Kaushal, in Kaushal & al., Bibliotheca Mycologica 91:

594 (1983) [“S. phymatodeus”]. Ty p e l o c a l i t y. I n d i a, Himachal Pradesh, Revalsar, Mandi, on wetsoil, 11 Oct. 1971, S.C. Kaushal. Isotypus BRNM 62411, revised.

A d d i t i o n a l c o l l e c t i o n s e x a m i n e d . P a k i s t a n, Wah Gardens, on the ground, 28 Feb.1973, Shahnaz Rukh as Scutellinia sp. (BPI 573636). Ta i w a n, Nantou, Meifeng, 2250 m alt., on dampsoil, 19 Dec. 1996, Y.Z. Wang, as S. phymatodeus, WAN 375 (TNM F5398).

I l l u s t r a t i o n s. Figs. 1–5

D e s c r i p t i o n. Apothecia rehydrated 2–6 mm diam., gregarious, sessile, shal-lowly cupulate to discoid, outer surface and margin covered by very short hairs.Ectal excipulum of a textura globulosa-angularis, made up of thin-walled cells,cyanophilous; medullar excipulum a textura angularis made up of hyaline hyphaelaid out horizontally towards the hymenium. Margin with yellow-brown to brownsetose hairs, uniformly coloured, apices obtuse to sharply pointed, with 0–5 septa,generally 0–2, very short to short, 60–280 × 8–20 μm, generally 60–140 × 8–15 μm;hair bases narrow, very often simple and rarely bifurcate, with a fairly thick wall,2–4 μm compared to the diameter of the hair, generally darker than the rest of thehair. Receptacular hairs very sparse, shorter and with a simple base. Asci cylin-dric, 180–260 × 10–17 μm, with a crozier, octospored, with 2 to 8 mature spores,remaining spores aborted but visible. Paraphyses simple, gradually widened toa clavate top, 5–8 μm wide. Ascospores 15.2–19.9 × 8.6–12.6 μm, X = 16.7 × 10.3 μm

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JEANNEROT B.: CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE GENUS SCUTELLINIA (PEZIZALES) II

Fig. 1. Scutellinia uliginosa. a: rehydrated apothecium (TNM 5398) (bar = 0.5 mm), b–h: hairs (b, c, d:BPI 573636, f: BRNM 612411, e, g: CUP-IN 32, h: TNM 5398) (bar = 10 μm), i–l: base of hairs (i: CUP-IN32, j, k, l: TNM 5398) (bar = 5 μm).

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Fig. 2. Scutellinia uliginosa. a–f: spores (bar = 10 μm). a–d: CUP-IN 32 (a: TV in water, b: TV in heatedCB, c: SWV in heated CB, d: TV in CB), e–f: TNM 5398 (e: SWV in heated CB, f: in water), g: ascus inheated CB (TNM 5398) (bar = 10 μm). For abbreviations see Material and Methods.

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Fig. 3. Scutellinia uliginosa. a–h: spores (bar = 10 μm). a–d: BPI 573636 (a: SWV in CB, b: TV in CB, c:a and b compilation, d: SWV in heated CB), e–h: BRNM 612411 (e: SWV in CB, f: TV in CB, g: SWV inheated CB, h: with negative filter in Photoshop). For abbreviations see Material and Methods.

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Fig. 4. Scutellinia uliginosa. BPI 573636, a: hairs (bar = 10 μm), b: spores heated in BC (SWV), c: sporesheated in BC (TV) (bar = 10 μm); BRNM 612411, d: hairs (bar = 20 μm), e: hair (bar = 10 μm), f: spores inBC, g: spores heated in BC (SWV and TV) (bar =10 μm). For abbreviations see Material and Methods.

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Fig. 5. Scutellinia uliginosa. TNM 5398, a: hairs (bar = 20 μm), b: spore in BC (TV), c: spores heated inBC (SWV and TV) (bar = 10 μm), d: base of hairs (bar = 20 μm); CUP-IN 32, e: hairs (bar = 10 μm),f: spores in BC, g: spore heated in BC (SWV) (bar = 10 μm). For abbreviations see Material and Methods.

(n = 100), QX = 1.64 (from 1.42 to 1.92), broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, with one ortwo large guttules at maturity. Spore wall ornamentation consisting of big spheri-cal and isolated warts; the spore wall clearly loosens in heated Cotton Blue; SWV:the warts are regularly placed and measure 1–4(5) (lb) × 1–3.5 (h) μm; TV: thesewarts are spherical, sometimes with an uneven diameter, 1–4.5 μm, typically 2–3 μm.

H a b i t a t. The examined collections represent gregarious apothecia and haveall been collected on wet soil. The epithet chosen by Batra (1960) refers to this hu-mid condition.

Historical review

Scutellinia phymatodea was described from India by Kaushal et al. (1983)from a collection dating from 1971. The authors included a key to all knownScutellinia species in India. The proposed name was based on advice from JiříMoravec, who had studied the material (Cao & Moravec 1988).

When Schumacher (1988) began his great review of the genus Scutellinia andpublished a list of invalid names, synonyms and species to exclude, he doubtedwhether it belongs to the genus Scutellinia: “I request the type of PAN, but re-ceived no answer to my enquiry. The description suggests a species unknown tome and probably not a member of the genus Scutellinia”. In his monograph(Schumacher 1990: 101), he ranges this species under nomina incerta with the fol-lowing precision: “= ? Scutellinia sp.”

We can also notice that in his two publications, Schumacher (1988, 1990) cor-rected the world list to make the epithet agree with Scutellinia phymatodea.

Cao & Moravec (1988) described a new species, S. fujianensis. They com-pared it to S. phymatodea, shortly described. In the same way, Moravec (1996)classified the species in the genus Scutellinia, under the epithet of phymatodea

by publishing a new species from New Zealand, Scutellinia totaranuiensis

J. Moravec. Wang (1998) found it in Taiwan in 1996 and described it under the cor-rected name of Scutellinia phymatodea, remembering shortly Schumacher’sdoubts: “Schumacher did not examine the type specimen and doubted whether itis a species of Scutellinia”.

In 1960, in his preliminary study of the Discomycetes from India, Lekh R. Batra(Batra & Batra 1960) described a new species: Scutellinia uliginosa L.R. Batra.He published the Latin diagnosis the same year in Mycologia (Batra 1960). Thisspecies was included again by Kaushal et al. (1983) in their key in which they com-ment, without having studied the collection: “this species is known from typelocality only”.

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Schumacher (1988) was able to study the type deposited into the herbarium ofCornell University, Ithaca (CUP – IN 32) and considered that it was a species be-longing to the genus Melastiza Boud.: “This is Melastiza species close, if not iden-tical, to M. flavorubens (Rehm) Pfister & Korf.” This exclusion of the genusScutellinia is confirmed in his monograph (Schumacher 1990): “Scutellinia

uliginosa Batra = Melastiza aff. flavorubens (Rehm) Pfister & Korf (videSchumacher 1988)”.

Several features which Scutellinia uliginosa shared with S. phymatodea drewmy attention: the place where it had been collected, Uttar Pradesh, very close tothe place of the Indian and Pakistani collections of S. phymatodea, the hair size,but above all the shape and the ornamentation of the spores. Batra’s drawings(1960), which are added to his description and his diagnosis, show some sporesvery close in nature to those of S. phymatodea. These common features lead meto review the Scutellinia uliginosa type (CUP – IN 32) in order to check its affini-ties with S. phymatodea or to exclude it definitely from the genus Scutellinia, asSchumacher had done (1988, 1990).

In the conclusion of this study, we consider these two species as synonymous.According to the rules of nomenclature, the correct name chosen is the oldestone: S. uliginosa L.R. Batra.

DISCUSSION

Scutellinia uliginosa is a rare species if judged by the few collections knownnowadays, but maybe this is not a true picture of the situation, since very few stud-ies have been published on this group of fungi from the region in question. The fourexamined collections came from India, Pakistan and Taiwan, all situated in thetropical region (Fig. 6), indicating that the species has a very wide distribution.

The most important taxonomic characteristics which have been underlinednot only by the original authors (Batra 1960, Kaushal et al. 1983) but also by laterworkers (Kullman, revision exsiccata note; Cao & Moravec 1988; Moravec 1996;Wang 1998) are short hairs, generally 0–2-septate, with a simple or bifurcate base,the size of the spores, and their ornamentation formed by large, spherical warts.

Data from publications and the author’s observations are summarized in Tab. 1.The reported data set corresponds to the original ones, except for some spore

measures which have been given by the authors with ornamentation, but the loos-ening spore wall has never been reported before. This character is, nevertheless,obvious and I have been able to observe it on the four examined collections. Itseems that none of the previous workers tested this feature.

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Tab. 1. Comparative table of the morphological characters of S. uliginosa as originally reported andfrom observations on the type material reported herein.

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Coll. Description by Hairs (μm) Hair bases Spores (μm) Ornamentation Additionalnotes

CUP-IN 32 Batra (1960) 100–200 ×10–12

simple or rarelyforked

20–25 × 11–12 (includ-ing ornamentation)

warts 1–2 μm thick 0–1 septa(hairs)

8-spored asci

uniguttulatespores

CUP-IN 32 Kullman (notein collection,1975)

17–20 × 10–12.5

X = 18.5 × 11.5

CUP-IN 32 Jeannerot(this study)

50–150 ×10–15

simple or rarelyforked

17.5–19.9 × 10.1–12.6

X = 18.9 × 11.1

warts 0.5–3.2 in diame-ter and 1–3 (bw) ×1.5–2.7 (h) μm

Outer wall looseningwhen heated in CB

0–1 septa(hairs)

8-spored asci

PAN 2430(Holotypus)

Kaushal et al.(1983)

140 × 12.5 base attenu-ated, neverforked

18–23.5 × 12.5–15 (in-cluding ornamentation)

15–18 × 9–10.5 (with-out ornamentation)

warts 3.3–4.25 μm indiameter and2.25–3 μm high

0–1 septa(hairs),2–4-spored,biguttulatespores

BRNM 32411(Isotypus)

Cao & Moravec(1988)

140 × 12.5 simple or rarelyforked (bifur-cate) base

15–16.5(18) × 9–13 warts 1–6(7.5) μm indiameter and 1–3(4)μm high

simple or rarelyseptate hairs


Moravec

(reexamina-tion – 1996)

45–135 ×10.8–12(16.3)

15–16.5(18) ×10.8–12(13)

large and spherical tu-bercles

extremely shortapothecialhairs


Jeannerot(this study)

60–110 ×8–10.5

base attenua-ted, simple

15.9–18.2 × 9.4–12.5 warts 1–3.5 μm in dia-meter and 1–4 (bw) ×1–2.5 (h) μm


0–1(2) septae,frequently only4 maturespores per asci

TNM 5398 Wang (1996) 160–280 ×8–10

not forked 17–18 × 10–11 warts 2–4 μm wide,2–4 μm high

TNM 5398 Jeannerot(this study)

60–280 × 8–20 mono–bifur-cate base

15.2–17.5 × 8.6–10.4 warts 1–3.5 μm in dia-meter and 2–3.1 (bw) ×2–2.7 (h) μm


8-spored asci

BPI 573636 Jeannerot(this study)

60–110 × 8–12 simple base,rarely bifurcate

15.8–17.6 × 9.5–11.1 warts 1–3 μm in diame-ter and2–5 (bw) × 1–3 (h) μm


asci with 4 or 8mature spores

Systematic position of S. uliginosa

Cao & Moravec (1988) stated: “S. fujianensis and also S. phymatodeus andother related species have an outstanding position in the genus. It is difficult toplace them within a section of the genus, particularly for the fact that the new re-cent taxonomy of Scutellinia given by Schumacher in his unpublished mono-graph is not yet known to us”.

Later on, Moravec (1996) tried to establish a parallel between the taxon andS. ahmadii (Cash) S.C. Kaushal by taking into consideration some similarities inthe length of the hairs: “Scutellinia phymatodeus and also Scutellinia ahmadii

(Cash) S.C. Kaushal, (…), represent species with the shortest apothecial hairswithin the genus Scutellinia”.

Since Schumacher’s monograph (Schumacher 1990), the loosening of thesporal wall is a defining criterion in the description of sect. Minutae, more pre-cisely in the Minutae series. This section groups species with short, flexuose hairsand ellipsoid spores together. The Minutae series, whose type is S. minutella

Svrček & J. Moravec, concerns taxa with verrucose to pustulo-cristate ornamen-tation, and loosening outer spore wall, except for S. macrospora (Svrček) Le Gal.

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Fig. 6. Map of the collecting sites for Scutellinia uliginosa (well-known collections).

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Tab. 2. Spores of S. uliginosa as reported in the literature.

References Sporal representations

Batra (1960: 175)

Kaushal et al.(1983: 594)

Cao & Moravec(1988: 190)

Wang (1998: 121)SEM photos kindlylent by Y.Z. Wang

Jeannerot(this study)

Scutellinia uliginosa seems to fulfil these criteria. As a matter of fact, the hairsand the spore sizes remind us of some species such as S. minutella or S. torrentis

(Rehm) T. Schumach. The hair base, simple or rarely bifurcate, the rarely septatehairs, predominantly situated on the margin and, obviously, the loosening of theouter spore wall allow us to propose placement of S. uliginosa in sect. Minutae,ser. Minutae. Although the review of this section is in progress, S. uliginosa canalready be separated from the other taxa based on spore ornamentation formed ofisolated large, spherical warts. It is worth stressing that some spores have smallerbut also spherical warts, among the larger ones, as also reported by Batra (1960)and Cao & Moravec (1988) (Tab. 2).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I am anxious to thank all the people who allowed me to study thedifferent collections previously quoted: Yei-Zeng Wang (TNM) in particular, AmyRossman (BPI), Vladimír Antonín (BRNM), Katie Hodge (CUP), and my friendGilles Corriol (BBF).

I also thank Pierre-Arthur Moreau for his bibliographic help, Nicolas VanVooren for reviewing the French manuscript and Marie-Pierre Sauffier for her as-sistance on the English translation.

REFERENCES

BATRA L.R., BATRA S.W.T. (1960): Indian Discomycetes. – Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 44: 109–256.BATRA L.R. (1960): New species of Discomycetes from India I. – Mycologia 52(3): 524–527.CAO J.Z., MORAVEC J. (1988): Scutellinia fujianensis sp. nov., a new species from China, with notes on

related species. – Mycol. Helv. 3(2): 183–190.KAUSHAL S.C., KAUSHAL R., RAWLA G.S. (1983): Genus Scutellinia from India, its taxonomy, nomencla-

ture and affinities. – Biblioth. Mycol. 91: 583–608.MORAVEC J. (1996): Scutellinia totaranuiensis spec. nov., a new species from New Zealand (Disco-

mycetes, Pezizales). – Mycotaxon 58: 233–241.SCHUMACHER T. (1988): The Scutellinia battle: the lost, missing and dead. – Mycotaxon 23: 149–189.SCHUMACHER T. (1990): The genus Scutellinia (Pyronemataceae). – Opera Bot. 101: 5–105.WANG Y.Z. (1998): The genera Scutellinia and Geneosperma (Discomycetes, Pezizales) in Taiwan. –

Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci. 11: 119–128.

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